Dropping By To Say "Hello!"

Morning my bloggy buds.  Haven't been around in a bit, so I thought I'd check in and let you know this far West TX girl is still alive and kicking.  I returned from my trip to Austin, TX, visiting my 5 grandchildren and daughter.  I also stayed with one of my best buds, Renie, for a couple of days.  My daughter lives in Round Rock, which is north Austin, and Renie lives in south Austin, where the action is.

I spent 5 days with the daughter and grandies and would you believe, Andria and I are still speaking to one another!!  LOL  Actually, it was a really nice visit and a real eye-opener.  With 5 children, raging from ages 12 years to 10 months, her life is a whirl-wind and her schedule exhausted me; the girl lives in her mini-van.  We spent most of our time riding around, running errands and buying food!!  LOL

Halloween was especially fun.  All of us dressed up and went Trick-or-Treating around her rather large neighborhood   What surprised me the most, was how many people just left a large bowl of candy outside their front door, with a note instructing the little goblins to just take one!  Really?????!!   I had to laugh at the fact that it can't be done here in El Paso!! Not only would the said little rug rats and teenies take as much as they wanted, but the bowl would disappear too!!  LOL  That doesn't speak well for my townies, but hey, that's just the reality of it.  Around here, you have adults putting out their bags along with their 2 day old infant's bags!!  I recall once, many years ago, a group of neighbors, the whole family, came by and everyone had a bag...about 20 people in total.  According to my friend, who had just moved here from Mexico City, she wasn't sure who really lived in that house since she never saw the same people coming in or out!!  LOL  Anyway, my oldest son, Joel who was 15 at the time, was distributing the candy, was asked by one of the women if that bottle of bubbles in the planter was his...he told her no, so she took it!!  The bubbles belonged to his younger brother, who was not allowed to blow them in the house, so he left them in the planter in front of the house.  I was floored at what happened and even more so, at my son's lack of interest.  Never left anything out in the front anymore!!  The only reason she didn't take the planter too was that it weighed a ton. One of the other Halloween's, I was taking my youngest across the street when a van full of trick-or-treaters was parked on the street and I noticed this man holding my neighbor's cat.  I told him the cat belonged to my next door neighbor and his reply was that he found it in the street (on their lawn), therefore,  it was his.  I then directed him to where a policeman lived on our block and he handed the cat back to me.  I went to our newly moved neighbors, a couple from Nebraska, and advised them to never allow their cat or any other animal out during Halloween...things tend to disappear.

My Halloween Crew.  From left to right, Mario (Zach),
Wolfman (Ryan), Zombie Harry Potter (Sean),
Lady Bug (Zoe) and the Little Lion (Sammy)

Kitty Perry (daughter, Andria) and that very ke-wel witch is yours truly

I know I had a picture of us in full-costume, but I can't seem to locate it, but ya get the picture, literally!!  LOL

Last Sunday, on the 4th of Nov., we participated in the 5K Komen Race For the Cure.  It was in downtown Austin, and I had never been so close to our Capital building ever.  Wish I could have given Gov. Perry the finger, but nah, wasn't around!!  LOL  I was in awe of the crowd and all those wonderful people who were participating, obviously, in different stages of their illness..such bravery and courage.  While my daughter and all her friends, except Tommye who walked with me, they ran it. I usually walk that much or more on my treadmill, but walking on city streets with hills makes it a whole different world...OY!!  I've lost some weight, so obviously, the first place it shows are my feet, apparently, because my athletic shoes were huge on me.  I told Tommye to head on out because I just couldn't keep up with her fast pace, not with those shoes.  I even thought of ducking out but it hit me, I don't know my way around downtown Austin, so I decided to stick with it, blistered feet and all, and make it to the finish line.  It took me a bit over an hour, but I made it, with everyone in our group cheering me on from the sidewalk!!  LOL  Ah, youth!!

My daughter, the one to my left, ran it and she's gotten the 5K bug.  She's already entered a couple of more races and the one I can't wait to see pics of is the Zombie Run next month...now that's going to be fun!!  LOL

I recently finished my book club reading for the month of Nov.  Unfortunately, I was unable to attend my group due to a slight cold I picked up in Austin, but I just had to finish it since it was a good read.  The book is "Bless Me, Ultima," by Rodolfo Anaya.  I recall finding it in a small bookstore in Santa Fe back in the 80's and reading it then.  It was apparently quite controversial at the time of it's publishing, in the 70's, but I suppose things have mellowed, or I have mellowed, but I didn't find it controversial at all.  I call Anaya a "painterly author," that is, he paints with words.  I'm very familiar with that part of New Mexico and I could see the landscape just as he described it. It's about a boy who becomes very close to an elderly "curundera" or healer, that come lives with his family.  It's a beautifully written piece of literature and I highly recommend it.

Well, it's time to get my day started and do something constructive.  Right now, I'm going through a "creative dry spell" which most of us go through now and again, but I'm sure things will start picking up once the holidays kick in...I hope!!  If I don't post before Thanksgiving, since this week is going to be pretty busy and I'll be gone the following 2 weeks, please have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  For those of you who are those crazies and wait for hours in line outside Target or your local mall on Black Friday, please stay warm and safe and yes, you're crazy!!  LOL  Also, for my non-American friends who don't celebrate our day of gluttony, have a great week.  Peace out.